Threshold
by LuigiWife1551
Summary: Lemmy Koopa was useless. It was all he'd ever heard. Useless. As far as he was concerned, useless things had to go away. So he did- or tried to, anyway. Two very unexpected beings stopped him that night- his own mind and his younger brother. The question for Lemmy is fairly obvious: why? The answer: a lot more complicated than he thought. Rated T for safety and summary may change.
1. Dead Inside

**Hello once again! This time, it is time for a Koopalings story to add to my Mario fandom! **

**I'm reading a good one right now entitled 'I Promised' by Just Call Me J and another good one called 'Koopalings Poems' by Coooool123 (not sure if I got the number of O's right), which got me on the idea of writing my own. If you love the Koopalings and touching sibling moments (like me), then you must give them a read! **

**Hopefully I don't copy anything from any part of either story... if I do, please let me know and I'll make sure to fix it. **

**This story will feature the small Lemmy Koopa and his insane partner in crime, Ignatius 'Iggy" Koopa as the two main chracters. It may start off slow, as this is my first time writing about these characters, so please be patient with me. It's also going to contain a lot of angst, attempted suicide and slight torture (nothing crazy), so you have been warned. **

**In this story, age breakdown for the kids (who are all Bowser's) will be as follows:**

**1. ****Eldest/Smartest-**** Ludwig von Koopa- age 18**

**2. ****Second-Eldest****- Lemmy Koopa- age 17**

**3. ****Third- Eldest/ Strongest-**** Roy Koopa- age 16**

**4. ****Middle Child #1/ Second Smartest-**** Ignatius 'Iggy' Koopa- age 14**

**5. ****Middle Child #2/ Second Strongest-**** Morton Koopa Jr.- age 12**

**6. ****Third Youngest-**** Wendy O. Koopa- age 10**

**7. ****Second-Youngest-**** Lawrence 'Larry' Koopa- age 8**

**8. ****Youngest-**** Bowser Koopa Jr.- age 6**

**A/N: In this chapter, bold/italics is Lemmy's "mind" speaking. Plain italics is Lemmy's 'thoughts'. **

**Um, I think that's about it. If you have any questions, comments, anything, please leave a review or PM me! :) **

**I hope you enjoy! Oh yeahhhhh... don't own Nintendo... pooey! :P**

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**Threshold**

**Chapter 1- Dead Inside**

Lemmy let out a soft sob as the warm tears continued to make trails down his cheeks. It wasn't fair!

Once again, his father, King Bowser Koopa, had wanted to kidnap Peach and kill Mario. Once again, being that he was the second oldest, yet the weakest, he had been sent into battle- first.

And once again, he had been defeated. Terribly.

Lemmy knew that couldn't be helped. He was the smallest in stature, definitely the weakest- heck, his own younger brother Bower Koopa Jr. could take down an entire fleet of Mushroom soldiers in one fell swoop!- and to top it off, his magic was oddly the most useless, unless it was for defensive purposes, despite the fact that he and Iggy held the two most powerful magic staffs in the entire Elite Force.

Lemmy sighed, slowly uncurling himself from his upright fetal position. He was somewhat glad his younger brother Iggy had made plans with their eldest brother Ludwig to go working on some random bomb experiment.

Lemmy was already humiliated by the fact that he lost against Mario, had been and still was badly hurt in the process, had been yelled at by Bowser nonstop for days on end, had been ignored by Ludwig and Iggy, talked about by Morton Jr. ,hit at least once in the head by Wendy's oversized rings _and _to top it all off, Roy would not let him hear the end of it and taunted him all day and night for weeks.

Lemmy winced at that thought. _'Weeks... was it really that long since I got into trouble?' _he thought to himself. Truth be told, it was almost a full two weeks into his punishment.

During the punishment phase of his life, Lemmy had always made it a thing to hide from everyone. If one of his family members caught him, all hell would certainly break loose. Being the meek soul he was, Lemmy hated having to deal with it, so he preferred not to.

A loud bang snapped him out of whatever thoughts he may of had. He franctically looked around his room, thinking Roy and his other younger brother Morton Jr. might have already taken the next step of torturing poor Lemmy- pranking him. Roy seemed to enjoy that lately, but Lemmy never found it funny.

He heard the bang again. When he listened closely, he realized the banging wasn't coming from _his _room, but down the hall. He sighed. "Iggy... what on earth are you up to now..."

His lips curled into a tiny smile as he listened to Iggy giggling to himself. Oddly enough, while most of his siblings would prefer not to be within twenty feet of the boy, especially when they were fighting, it was actually the opposite with Lemmy. He loved Iggy more than anyone else in his family, next to his mother.

"Probably because we're one in the same..." Lemmy mused.

But his happiness was short lived as he recalled that even Iggy couldn't help but laugh at seeing Lemmy's latest defeat. Lemmy also noticed that Iggy would try to avoid him whenever possible, and has been doing so for the past couple of months.

Wiping his snout, he looked over to the left and caught sight of his favorite ball, the one everyone hated but they knew that he needed. "I always need help doing the smallest things... but I'm the second- eldest!" he angrily cursed at himself as he crawled over to the ball. Despite being a fairly acrobatic little koopaling, the fact still remained- Lemmy could not move without his ball.

Getting more and more frustrated, his little fists rose to start banging the sides of his head, and it was then Lemmy noticed the small blood- covered cut on his left forearm. Lemmy blinked- he didn't recall seeing that the day before- until memory kicked in and he winced, letting his arms drop.

Roy had given him that cut. Lemmy wondered why he never noticed, but figured that at the time, when he got away from Roy's yelling, he was too busy trying not to break down in front of him and the rest of his family..._again._

"I told them... I can't fight. I don't want to fight..." Lemmy muttered sadly, pressing his forehead to his cool plastic ball. His little claws dug just a little tighter into the ball.

"They don't... understand. I just like to play..."

Lemmy was nothing more than the black sheep of the family. He knew that. He always would be, even in Iggy's eyes. Lemmy was physically smaller than average, weak, unable to see out of his left eye, and couldn't even get around without his beloved circus ball.

Lemmy wiped his eyes for the hundredth time and stood up. He looked around his room. Circus theme was clearly evident, from the large, blue tent shaped covering for his bed, to the paint on his wall- bright blue with yellow stars. His circus ball matched the wall. Posters of different acrobats covered at least 95 percent of his walls and door. His magic scepter was in a small closet closest the door.

"I'm a kid... some royal prince I am..." he told himself. He hopped on top of his ball, recalling when his father first found out just how different he really was.

Lemmy seemed to have born a healthy baby koopa, save for his size. But at the age of two, Lemmy was just barely getting past the crawling stage, kept bumping or running into things, and seemed to have a hard time talking.

Bowser realized there was a major problem when he kept finding Lemmy just sitting in odd places that he otherwise shouldn't have been in, staring at stars and colors and sometimes, nothing at all. His mouth was almost always hanging open each and every time, and a odd bruise was always on some part of his body, mostly his right side.

His father, despite his mother's wishes, had Lemmy examined. It was then Bowser found out some interesting things about his second oldest son.

Lemmy's legs were oddly underdeveloped. He couldn't maintain his balance for longer than a minute- literally, and when he could stand upright, he couldn't get past four or five steps before he fell down.

The constant running into something was attributed to his eyesight. Lemmy had poor vision in both eyes, but it was even worse in his right eye, which explained why Lemmy mostly kept hurting the right side of himself.

15 years later, Lemmy was now 17 years old. He was a prince, who may possibly be next to inherit the throne.

Yet he was still weak, couldn't grow past 4 feet, still had a childlike voice, could barely see right, and could hardly walk on his own... _without _the use of a ball or one of his stronger siblings, who had to carry him if he lost or damaged his ball. He had a semi-thin plastron due to his size, and had to wear armor each time he entered battle.

And naturally, due to his playful and childlike personality, Lemmy never took things seriously and always ended up losing.

Lemmy looked fondly at his ball. He had grown so attached to the thing that he couldn't really recall how he found it. He had only been around five or six.

All he knew was that he found a new way to get around. Lemmy smiled as stood up and began to slowly roll around his room, trying not to make noise. "And I did it. I taught myself how to walk." he said quietly.

It had been painful with all the falling, and took a lot of work, but by age seven, Lemmy could finally move around like his family. He was so happy that he thought of the idea all by himself. He had never felt so proud of himself. He had taught himself how to walk, and he was way faster than that of his siblings.

But learning how to walk by circus ball wasn't exactly something his father would consider an accomplishment. Neither did his brothers and sister. It usually made him the target of constant teasing- _because_ he had to walk on a ball.

_'I'm different, that's why they do that...' _Lemmy thought bitterly, stopping himself. He bit his lip, slamming his tiny fist against the right side of his head.

He did it again. And again. And again. Until he was certain there was a bruise there and he was getting a headache.

"Why me...? Why was I born so... different from everyone?" he mumbled, getting off the ball and sitting down. He felt slightly dizzy from the sudden headache.

At the end of it all, wondering why wouldn't help anything. It certainly didn't help him defeat Mario and Luigi, or any other enemy of his father's for that matter.

What it did was get him yelled at, picked on by Roy, who was growing a lot more... brutal, for lack of the right word, and in the end, grounded next to his insane brother for another two weeks.

Lemmy sniffed once more, a small hiccup escaping his mouth. He didn't want to keep crying, but what else could he do?

_'I need to leave here... I have to, or everything is just going to get worse...'_

Lemmy let out a breath to calm himself down. Once he felt a bit more stable and his head wasn't ringing, he got back on top of his ball, quietly opened his door, checked to make sure no one would see him, and then left.

"It's okay. It's not like anyone's going to miss me, anyway." he convinced himself as he closed his door. Looking around once more, he started rolling to his left down a dark, long corridor, heading toward a wooden door.

Lemmy's room was on the fifth floor of Bowser's castle. He took his time and quietly got to the forth floor, then the third. So far, so good.

As he was passing by a large wall on his way to the first floor, Lemmy halted. Something glittery caught in the hallways' light. He tilted his head, but his left eye made it a lot harder to see anything. Curious, he rolled closer to inspect it.

Once he saw what was so shiny, he gasped, his mouth hanging open and eyes wide. "M...Mama..."

Lemmy stood in front of a massive painting of his and his sibling's mother, Queen Clawdia von Koopa III. He had never seen that painting before and wondered how long it had been there. It was clean, so he figured that one of the royal servents must have known about it. Their father would have known about it, too. He had to- it _was _his castle.

Lemmy reached out and touched the gold frame the painting resided in. He shivered, the cold metal making him a little chilled. "Mama... do you love me as I am? Or do you hate me, too?" he asked softly. He smiled, wondering what his mother would have done in this situation.

Lemmy remembered a fair amount about his mother. His favorite memories were of him playing with her medium-length blue hair.

Ludwig would snap if Lemmy came within a yard of his hair, to the point where he would cry when Ludwig pushed him away. So his mother allowed him to style her hair when she had free time. Even as a baby, her curls had always fascinated Lemmy, mostly because of how blue they were.

Another thing he remembered were her eyes. Hers had been the most beautiful shade of onyx he had ever seen, and he understood where he and most of his siblings got their eye color from. She was always caring about Lemmy and his siblings, and her expression always portrayed it. Lemmy could never recall one instance she never wore a smile on her face.

The last thing he would always remember was a special ruby ring that their father gave her on their wedding day. Lemmy hated that memory more than anything.

It was the day their mother passed away from 'natural causes'. Frankly, Lemmy still had no clue what really happened to their mother. No one except for Bowser knew, and he never explained it to Lemmy, or Ludwig, or any of the children.

All he really remembered was staring extremely hard at the ring. It was a fairly large ruby stone, and the band was gold.

He did remember Morton and Wendy were crying a lot, hugging each other. Bowser hadn't really said anything; he just... stood there, holding two little koopalings, Junior and Lawrence. Larry was asleep, and Junior was sucking his thumb. Lemmy didn't blame him- he didn't understand.

Ludwig had been looking elsewhere, but he had been holding Roy's hand. Roy was shaking a lot, and Lemmy remembered that Ludwig had looked at him and mouthed something that calmed him for a few moments. It was the first time that the larger koopa had removed his pink shades. Iggy was standing closer to the door, twiddling his thumbs. His whole being was tense, and his glasses weren't on. That was another first, as Iggy was virtually blind without them.

Lemmy had been the only one who no one really comforted. He had just kept staring at the ring, wondering when he could let go of his tears.

That night was the first of many crying breakdowns Lemmy suffered. After that night, everything went downhill.

As Lemmy traced the decorative patterns on the frame, he realized that he did take it the hardest. He loved to make her laugh, to play with her when no one else would, to hide behind her when his younger siblings and his older brother made fun of him. It gave him a reason to smile himself.

Lemmy was her little clown, and he enjoyed what he did. Especially if it meant he didn't have to enter into battle.

"But... you're not here anymore, Mama..." Lemmy whispered to himself. He smiled sadly, rolling back to get another good look at the painting.

"I guess it's hard to love someone who will always be the freak of the family. I can't make them laugh; I just make them mad." He sighed as he turned to leave.

"But I love everyone here, and I hope they know that." Lemmy finished, voice lowered to a cracking whisper as the tears threatened to start again. He looked over his shoulder one last time at the painting and waved at it, almost as if he knew his mother would return the gesture. Then he set about his way.

He soon reached the first floor, and carefully rolled along, his mind occupied with thoughts.

As he passed his younger brother Larry's room, he paused, listening to the sounds that he heard drifting through his slightly opened door. It sounded like the latter was playing the Wii again.

_'He better be careful. I think training is tomorrow, and he knows how Dad gets if we wake up late. Maybe I...'_

Lemmy cut that thought short. Larry was known for being a tad bit hard-headed, especially if Lemmy talked to him. On top of which, he didn't feel like dealing with another round of teasing. He decided to let the matter drop. So he kept rolling.

Lemmy was thankful all his younger siblings loved to sleep. Except for Iggy and Larry, everyone else was still-

Nope. Scratch that. _Almost_ everyone.

Lemmy stood in front of Ludwig's music room. The lights were on, and it sounded like Ludwig was yelling at something. _'Probably can't find any more inspiration again... or maybe that bomb thing didn't work out... but with that racket, he'll wake up Dad...'_

"...but Father, it is the thirty- seventh battle this month! He is constantly getting destroyed, and it ruins _our_ plans to attack next! Why do you keep that boy around?! Lemmy is useless!"

Lemmy bit down on his lip. Never mind, Ludwig was talking to Father... and about that loss again. Great.

_'I can't catch a break here, can I? It's been nearly three weeks, Ludwig... I wonder why you're still so upset about it.' _Lemmy mused as he listened. He heard some more noise- a similar banging like the sound that was coming out of Iggy's room- but he didn't remember hearing Iggy leave his room.

The useless part...that wasn't news to him, although it still stung. _'I don't want to be useless... honest...'_

"Ludwig, I understand. And I hate to say this about my own flesh and blood, but you're right. Lemmy isn't exactly one of us, you know that. He's always been different. And that difference is costing me soldiers left and right..."

Lemmy understood the soldier part, but he couldn't figure out where this was going.

"I don't know what to do about him. He's my son, but I can't afford to keep him on battle fronts when he keeps getting beaten. The boy... gah, he's always useless... so weak and pitiful. His mother was _nothing _like that, so I don't know why he is!" Bowser roared, annoyed.

Lemmy's dark pools filled with more tears. _'Mother... she was strong. Maybe she never ran away after all. Unlike me...'_

"Father, I say we throw him out. He is my brother yes, but he is also a being I cannot afford to defend if he cannot even defend himself. Look at him, he cannot even _move_ without that stupid circus thing!"

Lemmy backed away from the door, ready to run as fast as his legs could manage, when he heard another voice coming from the room. He froze, nearly falling off his ball.

"Daddy, Lemmy's broken. I don't think you can fix him, 'cause you can't fix what can never be fixed! Teehee, he's just as blind and useless as a dead lamb!"

As Iggy began to giggle, Lemmy had heard enough.

He needed to leave. _NOW. _

He rolled as fast as could towards a door. Lemmy knew that had to be the exit, and slammed into it as hard as he could. He didn't care who heard him or if the door would hurt him- he had to leave.

_'Why you, Iggy... why do you all... hate me?'_

As he rolled, his vision fogged by his tears and his shoulder sore from slamming himself to freedom, his ball ran over something. Lemmy was sent flying off his ball and landed plastron first on the ground. The breath was knocked out of him, and he let out a scream.

"M-My plastron..." he whimpered. Sure enough, he had a small crack on the upper portion of his chest. It hurt a lot more than he thought.

Tears still rapidly falling down his face, he laid there coughing as he tried to catch his breath, covered in dirt, looking just as pitiful as his father said.

Lemmy rest his head on the ground, finally reaching his breaking point for the second time that night. He cried his eyes out, screamed his lungs raw, tried to do anything to make that horrible stinging pain in his chest go away.

_'Why would they do something like that? Do they realize that stuff hurts? I don't want to be the weakest, I don't!'_

"B-B-But... I am... why can't you just accept me? W-W-why do you all hate me?!" he blubbered sadly to no one in particular.

It was a long, long while before the tears stopped. Lemmy was empty now. He sat himself upright, ignoring his cracked plastron and his beloved ball that was nearby. He didn't know where he wandered too, nor did he care.

He wasn't back there. That's all that mattered.

Lemmy began stumbling through a location he'd never been to. The entire walk, Lemmy stopped thinking about everything, if anything. He couldn't find anything to cry about, to be mad about, nothing. It wasn't peaceful, but it sure helped take away a lot of his heartache.

He cried himself raw- what else could he be upset about now?

Soon, he cam across a small river, and sat down near the water's edge. The location of the stream felt eerily familiar, although Lemmy was certain he had never been here before. Even so, he liked it.

It felt warm here, and the scene looked beautiful. With the full moon out, he could see green, nothing but green and tall trees whose leaves rustled in the breeze. Lemmy looked down, his fingers running through the grass. It felt so prickly, their tips brushing against his skin. Little padded feet fiddled with some rocks that was close the water's edge.

"What is this place?" he asked himself in amazement. He looked at the moon again, then at the river, watching the breeze move the water to and fro. He smiled.

"Maybe there is still something left for me..." he whispered as he took in the scene. He drew his legs closer to his chest and laughed quietly to himself, just amused by the sheer beauty that was here.

"I wonder... why does this place feel so familiar? I've never-"

But his tranquil thoughts stopped when he noticed something just barely floating above the water. He leaned forward and grabbed it, only to wince in pain. He looked at his hand, and saw that a thin line of blood seeped through broken skin. Confused, Lemmy looked at the object he found.

A piece of a sharp rock. It looked like it had been broken.

Lemmy stared a little too hard at it, all his emotions from the last three years bubbling to the surface. His hands shook as he grasped the sharp object.

Not thinking about what he was doing, he made one smooth motion, and sliced into his arm. Red seeped from the wound, landing in heavy drops onto the floor. Lemmy blinked. It wasn't as painful as he thought it would be.

And just like that, Lemmy's reasoning flew out the window. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "I hate it! I hate it, I hate it, I HATE EVERYTHING!" before he sliced into his arm again. That only made his pain inside worse.

"Useless... stupid, worthless... I HATE ALL OF YOU!"

Soon, his legs, left eye, and even his plastron were heavily soaked in his blood. Gashes adored his arms and legs, and his eye was bleeding badly.

The strange thing was, none of it hurt. If anything, it made him feel... relived.

"I-I'm not... u-u-useless... Mama..."

Lemmy was panting heavily, and growing dizzy from the loss of blood. His fingers loosed of it's grip of the blood covered rock, and it fell to the ground.

Lemmy staggered to the water, blearily looking at himself in the reflection. What he saw was no surprise, even though he still didn't understand why this place felt so comforting to him.

A tiny, bloody, koopa with a sad, half-lidded expression and dried tears on his cheeks. Rainbow hair spiked everywhere, a crack in his plastron, and at least, one good eye to see with.

He sighed contently. "I... I can... be use... ful..."

Lemmy collapsed into a heap, letting out a small whimper before he curled into a fetal position. His head was spinning, and he felt sick to his stomach. Bleeding and broken, Lemmy closed his eyes as he tried to calm his spinning, pounding head.

_'I... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was such a failure to everyone... but I will never be here to mess up again.'_

A breeze kicked up, causing grass to tickle his snout and cheek. It made him smile, if only for a little while longer.

He opened one eye and tried to focus on the grass, but his vision was slowly darkening. The one strand of grass looked like green and black polka dots.

_'Nature... pure...like Junior...'_

Lemmy's thoughts became scrambled as he tried to stay awake. His mind was trying to reason with him, to keep him alive, but Lemmy himself just wanted to quit.

_'Why... am I staying... awake... again?'_

**_"Because you can't just up and die on your family! Are you insane?!"_**

Lemmy chuckled weakly. "N-No... Iggy..." he mumbled, eye closing.

**_"You idiot! Wake up! You know your family needs you!"_**

_'N-no... they don't... need...me. I... I wanna sleep now... please?'_

Lemmy started to relax as a numb sensation began to take over him. His limbs felt heavier, his heart... a lot lighter. He let himself be taken away; all the while, his mind tried to reason with him.

**_"LEMMY! You have to wake up! You need to get home and get help!"_**

_'B-but... why? Who... what are you?'_

**_"Don't worry about that! You are BLEEDING to DEATH! Need I say more?! Now get up and get home before we die out here!"_**

_'W-we...? I don't know... what you are, but... but I'm not going to live that long, anyway. _

_I don't want to.'_

**_"Why not, you twit!?"_**

_'I... have always been the black sheep in my family. I didn't... I never asked to be like this. No one did..._

_I can't do anything to make anyone happy anymore. I... I wish I knew why Father hates me... why my family... acts like I'm such... such a burden to them. Maybe it might... make living easier... I don't know. _

_I'm tired of being useless. I don't like to fight. I can't fight. I can't even protect my little brothers and sister...'_

**_"Lemmy, you are aware that nothing is wrong with you, right?"_**

_'Everything is wrong... can I... sleep now?'_

**_"No. And you're missing the point. Lemmy, you're not a freak, you are who you are. Everything your family may hate about you is what makes you special. You can do things they can never do, act and show emotions in ways they can't understand. That is why they act so cold toward you."_**

_'Yeah... I-I guess...sleep time now?'_

Lemmy let his eye close, his entire body completely lax at that point. His breathing started to even out, slow and deep. But his mind and him were still talking... in a sense.

_**"Lemmy, tell me something. Do you think this is the answer?"**_

_'...I don't know.'_

**_"Then why would you do it? Why hurt yourself this much and risk dying?"_**

_'I...I don't... want to be hurt by them anymore... I guess.'_

**_"Are you sure? Are they really causing you to do this? Or are you just afraid of being alone?"_**

_'... both. Mama is... I don't... have anyone else. They all hate me...'_

**_"What about Iggy? Doesn't he love you? And your brothers and sister? And your father?"_**

_'No...'_

**_"...do you want to know what it feels like? To be dead?"_**

_'I think... I know the feeling already. I've been like that... for some time.'_

**_"Lemmy, this isn't the answer. I'm sorry... but you're not dying today. Sure, you're pretty darn close. But you will not be dying today."_**

_'Huh...? I... thought I was...'_

**_"No, you're not. But you have to understand that running away will not solve anything. Now, I'm gonna ask you again. Do you really want to die alone out here in a place you once cherished?"_**

_'I...cherished? But... I don't...understand. I don't know what I want...'_

**_"Let's start with living, huh? Once you're alright, I'll explain everything."_**

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**Okay, and chapter one finished! This one made me actually ****_cry_**** a little. I don't think any of my fanfiction made me THIS sad before... poor Lemmy! I'm sowieeeee! :(**

**Don't worry- Lemmy's not out of the story ****_this_**** early! :) He's just... out of commission until next chapter... and talking to his mind while in limbo... and Bowser may kill me later, but ANYWAY... :O**

**Random sidenote- Iggy's name in Greek roughly translates to 'goofy'. I thought that was kind of cute given his personality.**

**I hope you all enjoy this new story! Again, please leave a review or PM me if you have any questions or concerns. **

**Until next chapter (when hopefully I don't start with the waterworks again), Sayoonara! :)**

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	2. Dead Thoughts

**Teehee, and now for chapter 2! Nothing really interesting happens for the time being, just a lot of chatter. As for the title... yeah, not too creative, but I kinda liked it, so that is how it shall stay! :P**

**Note: I've decided to go ahead and alternate the chapters. This chapter will be Lemmy's POV, then universal, etc. That's going to be how the story is written from now on. **

**Enjoy the story! I own nothing, just the plotline!**

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**Threshold**

**Chapter 2- Dead Thoughts**

_What's... where... where am I? What just happened? Better still... am I alive or dead?_

**_"No. You're in limbo right now."_**

_'H-Huh? Limbo? And what...are you?'_

_There's this weird pause in between my question and... whoever it is I'm talking to. I take that time to think. Although I should be dead, so I'm not sure how that works, exactly. _

_**"I told you, you are not dying. You've still got something to do!"**_

_I ignore the voice for the time being, focusing more on what's... not around me, I think? I've never been in a place where there's no color. My room was always bright..._

_I note that it's really dark, and not the kind that scares Morton Jr. and makes him sleep with a nightlight. _

_'I'm still thinking about him, too...'_

_The darkness here, this kind... it's warm, almost, kinda like how I used to feel whenever I was under my giant, thick blanket in my room. I dunno, it just seems... like it's safer here. I don't have to hide from my brothers and my father anymore. I don't have to hear them talk about how useless and worthless I am anymore, either._

_I can finally be at ease._

_**"Lemmy. You need to focus on saving yourself before you die out here."**_

_Except for that voice. It's not letting me sleep, and I'm gonna put an end to that one now._

_'I don't plan on living. That's why I cut myself... now can I sleep?' I ask, half tired, half annoyed that this death thing wasn't really what I had in mind. _

**_"Lemmy Koopa, may I ask you something?"_**

_'Uh... okay.' I can't recall when was the last time I heard my full name being used... that's kinda creepy to be hearing that inside my... whatever I'm inside in._

_I still wish I knew what was going on... and whether or not I'm actually dead. _

_If you can't feel any pain, then that means you're dead, right? I don't feel a thing, not even the blood that should be covering my left eye. _

_So am I dead? I dunno... I mean, this voice says I'm in limbo... whatever that means. _

**_"Right before you came here, what was your very last thought?" _**

_Very last though, huh... that's pretty easy. But should I really be telling something that I can't see? _

_'I don't... want to answer that.' I say after thinking about it for a few moments. _

I love my family, I really do. But I don't want to remember what I thought about last because... I think they were the last thing I thought about.

_I don't want to think about the life I left back there. I already felt dead inside trying to cope with everyday living with my family. Thinking about them... after what I've done... I'd rather not put myself through it. _

_I'd rather forget about them now. It's not like I'm gonna need those memories later or something. _

_'I was talking to you, though. You kept telling me that I wasn't going to die, that I shouldn't die somewhere I once... cherished?' Yeah, that last statement is still confusing as heck to me. _

_**"Hmm... so you do remember that..."** the voice says, but it sounded like it was more to himself than anything. I don't question it, I just let him continue. Maybe he'd let me go if I did, or at the least, tell me what he was referring to. _

_Neither one actually happens, though. He says something else that completely throws me for a loop. _

_**"Here's the thing, Lemmy. You know you can't just forget about your family. That's always how you have been. You are ALWAYS thinking about them, aren't you?"**_

_I close my eyes and try to block him out. I want to be dead, I don't want to hear this...I can't stand to hear it..._

_**"You want to protect them; you want be a big brother, not a child. You want to be stronger, but you don't want to fight or hurt anyone."**_

_It's true..._

_I want to **be** an older brother, not just a small Koopaling who can't seem to do anything right. I cost Ludwig and the others many a battle, and each time, I was just growing weaker, not stronger. _

_For once, I want to be able to protect them... but I'm useless... my magic is pure defense, and I can only do one defensive move, anyway. I can barely move around without my ball or sometimes, Iggy's help. I can't see striaght, which is why I sometimes get the commands for the army mixed up and I send them in the wrong areas (which I have done multiple times... Father wasn't too pleased, and neither was Ludwig). _

_I can't command an army, I got my battle ship destroyed more often than not... and I'm terrified to kill any living being, no matter whose side they're on. _

_Killing anything living was one of the reasons why I cost us our last battle- a hurt Mushroom solider was still talking, even though his whole left arm was a ragged mess... I couldn't just end him unlike my brothers and possibly my sister. I helped him out and got him back home safely. Needless to say, when Morton Jr. found out, Father did as well. And that was the second longest punishment of my life... before this one, anyways._

_I just... I want... to help them, not burden them. I want Father to feel proud of me as a son, as his royal blood, as a prince...just he does with the others. I want to make my brothers and sister feel safe around me, to know that I can protect them when the time arises. _

_I just wish I wasn't such a punk... I run away from EVERYTHING..._

_'It's my turn. Who are you? Why do you want to know what I can and can't remember? And what did you mean before? What was it I cherished?' I suddenly shoot at the voice, one after another. _

_A chuckle, and it sounded very familiar, and then I finally get something of an answer._

**_"I told you, I will answer all your questions in due time. You aren't quite ready to handle it, and besides... someone else is just as involved in this as you."_**

_If I was confused before, I think it got way worse now. 'What are you talking about? Involved in what?'_

**_"Never mind. Just be patient. Right now, you need to focus on getting home. You're going to die if you don't wake up."_**

_Why does this voice think I want to wake up? I harmed myself for a REASON, right? I WANTED this! I wanted to be dead- at least now Father can actually get things done and I don't have to deal with constant yelling or failing or them or... myself..._

_I don't have to deal with me...and they don't have to deal with me..._

**_"Is that what you truly believe?"_**

_'I... I guess so...I don't know.' _

**_"Lemmy, answer this. Why do you think you're useless?"_**

_I think at that point, even if I wasn't dead, I mentally just shut down. Why can't this thing leave well alone and let me die? _

_''I don't... want to answer that...' _

**_"It's because you know the answer, don't you Lemmy? You know exactly why you think that you are useless."_**

_I can't bring myself to talk to this voice anymore. It's making my head hurt, and I'm not even sure if it's literal or not. _

_It's true. I know exactly what the answer is. But isn't that the reason I came to... whatever place this is? To get away from the painful truth? _

_After a stretch of silence that seems like it will never stop, I ask another question._

_'Am I going to die now?'_

**_"Lemmy, let's be honest. I know you didn't want to make it this far. I'm not stopping you from Death's door. YOU'RE stopping yourself."_**

_I blink in confusion, but before I could ask what the voice meant, it answered for me. _

**_"Lemmy, I can only talk to you in this little vortex we're trapped in, just like when you first got here. But you still want to live; you're preventing yourself from passing because you want to see your family again. You're still attached to the living world, in a sense."_**

_I don't respond. I can't. It's right._

_I really didn't think this would happen. I was upset and I screamed, and then... this. _

_I didn't want to die... I just wanted my family to understand. _

**_"You see Lemmy, I know EXACTLY what's bothering you. I always know. I always will know."_**

_Before I can ask what it meant, it rambled on. **"You want to know what I'm going on about, right? **_**_Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Not yet, anyway."_**

_'Why not?'_

_**"You know why."**_

_I close my eyes, feeling myself begging for the stillness to come so I didn't have to keep listening to this madness. I am tired of my brain or whatever it is playing tricks on me. _

_** "Lemmy, trust me, you're still alive. Barely. You're staying in limbo until you figure out just what you really want to do." **_

_I open one eye, and ask the voice one more thing. _

_'What's limbo?'_

_A low, yet calming and deep chuckle and I'm at attention. What's so funny, I wish I knew. But at least my question gets answered at last, so I can't complain._

_**"Limbo just means the bridge between life and death, so to speak."**_

_It's then I hear voices, other ones besides the one that had been talking to me. I feel sore, too, and my left eye starts to throb. The voices are loud, and one keeps yelling right in my ear..._

_'H-huh? Wh...what's going on?'_

**_"You're going back home, Lemmy Koopa. I told you that Death wasn't an option. And this time... you're going to begin the process on your own. You have to learn how to put yourself back together again."_**

* * *

**And chapter 2 is complete! So far, so good (in my case, anyways- I have a half decent storyline going)! :) **

**I hope you all enjoyed it, and let me know what you think! Please leave a review, a comment or question, anything helpful so long as it isn't flames. I will use those to make me pizza in the morning, so don't bother with them! :) **

**Until next chapter, Sayoonara! **


	3. Barely Found

**Well, aren't I on a roll for once! I got two chapters done instead of one! (Wonder why I can never do that with my other fanfictions... hmmm...) Believe me, this is going to be a RARIETY! I still have my other stories to work on... so many...**

**But in any case, here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: Bowser's gonna roast me. Annnnnd... o****h yeah, Nintendo isn't mine. And NOW running time! Don't plan on having an early death, you know, the usual. **

**Enjoy the story! :)**

* * *

**Threshold**

**Chapter 3- Barely Found**

Ignatius Koopa had wondered at one point what death had to feel like. What it felt to be in absolute stillness, no way to move, no way to cry out in pain or even for help.

It only occurred to him for a short time after one of his experimental specimens wound up dead yet again that Iggy thought about it. But just like many of his failed experiments, Iggy did not understand the concept of life ceasing to exist.

He only saw it for what it was- a failed experiment. Nothing more, nothing less. A failed experiment that can be replaced by another, one that was more likely to live longer.

Lives meant nothing to Iggy, so long as he got what he wanted.

His siblings shared that one thought with Iggy. Despite having murdered innocent lives day in and day out, they simply didn't understand the concept of Death, or how important family truly was. They took a lot of things for granted, and even their father barely knew how precious life really was.

And it would take this family a little heartbreak for them to finally see what they needed to know.

* * *

The evening started when Iggy and his siblings were in the middle of an intense game of Wii tennis. Every one of the Koopalings had been unsuccessful in defeating Lawrence Koopa in even half a game of tennis. It was Iggy's turn to take the controller.

"Let's see you try and beat me, Iggs! I've wiped the floor with everyone else here!" Larry said with the biggest grin ever seen. He selected first player and then his Mii character.

Iggy rolled his eyes, nudging Larry before selecting second player and his Mii. "Don't get so confident- I know I'll beat you for sure!"

In the background, the heavyset Roy Koopa and his younger heavyset counterpart Morton Koopa Jr. were placing candy bets on who would win this round. Roy was confident he was going to be snacking on sugar tonight, and with the way Morton Jr. kept tossing candy into the 'pool', Roy was even more excited for the two boys to start playing.

"I betcha Larry's gonna _cream _ya, glasses boy!" Roy sneered, leaning back into the worn-out couch. Morton was so busy jumping around, throwing more candy into the betting 'pool', no one caught a word of what he actually said. Everyone assumed he was betting for Iggy to win.

Wendy O. Koopa was on the phone with her friend, painting her... claws, and gossiping about the locals in one of the kingdoms she had recently conquered. "HEY, can you guys like, SHUT UP! I'm trying to talk to my friend, and it's like, super hard to hear her!"

Roy rolled his eyes, but Wendy O. didn't even notice. "Hey little bratness, how's about ya take ya call TO YA ROOM! We're in the middle of somethin' here!" Roy responded back, dismissing Wendy O. with a passive wave. Wendy huffed, but took her call elsewhere, muttering something about how ugly pink was on a boy. Luckily Roy didn't catch on to that.

Little Bowser Jr. was in the middle of the action, trying to see over Roy's larger shoulders and yelling for Larry to 'kick Iggy's bootyshell' (his own little made up name). Even Iggy couldn't make sense of the name, but he had a match to win.

The only one not participating in all the ruckus was the eldest of the Koopalings, Ludwig von Koopa. He was in his music room, attempting to compose another symphony (that we all know sounds horrid). He had played against his little brother, and was defeated within three minutes of the game beginning.

As he tried to come up with an idea for a new piece he could work on, Ludwig's mind drifted back to his second youngest brother. It occurred to him that he hadn't seen him anywhere since his punishment began.

Normally that wouldn't bother him as much as it did, but that was the problem. Lemmy was always the loudest, always wanting someone to laugh at his crazy antics. He loved to make everyone happy, and if he was downstairs, he could've beaten Larry at that blasted tennis and shut Roy and Morton up.

But the issue was, Ludwig was beginning to feel like Lemmy was more of a liability than an asset. He was still somewhat pissed they lost such an easy battle- a battle against the Mario Bros. that they could've won, if Lemmy hadn't been so weak- and it was for good reason.

Their father did acknowledge the fact Lemmy was even more off than Iggy was, but in the sense that he was getting more and more in the way of things.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Ludwig leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

_'I do not hate my little brother, Stars know I do not. But... his actions are costing us battles, costing Father soldiers, costing ALL of us everything! All that little cretin knows how to do is play and act like a child... but for pete's sake, he is a 17 year old prince!'_

Ludwig shook his head, before he got up and stretched. "Maybe... I should at least make sure he is still alive..."

With that, Ludwig headed to Lemmy's room. He didn't see any harm- he was going to check on him and make sure he was still breathing, seeing as how he had two more weeks in his punishment to go.

* * *

_-knock-knock-knock-_

"Lemmy? It is Ludwig. Can you open the door so I know you are alright?"

Ludwig realized how foreign the words sounded in his mouth, even as they left his lips. But he hadn't been lying- he was a bit concerned about Lemmy's health. From what was being spoken around the kitchen, Lemmy hadn't really been eating as of recent, whenever that was.

When no one responded, Ludwig knocked harder. He still got no response. At least, not one from Lemmy himself.

"Huh?"

To Ludwig's surprise, the door creaked open just a bit. Ludwig shrugged and pushed the door open slowly, carefully peeking inside before he stepped foot in Lemmy's personal space.

It was full of the kind of stuff Lemmy loved- everything you could imagine that was circus themed. But there was no sign of the circus loving person anywhere.

Ludwig entered the room fully, gently closing the door behind him. He stood in the center of the room, looking around for anything that may of seemed off to him.

The bed looked normal, except for some stains of the pillowcase. Ludwig had a good guess what it was.

"Where could he be... he is not even supposed to be out of his room!" Ludwig wondered aloud as he looked through his closet and found nothing of importance.

Looking on Lemmy's desk, Ludwig saw a drawing, something that Junior looked like he drew. Examining it, Ludwig felt his stomach drop just a little.

The picture was indeed a family portrait; unlike Junior's works, Lemmy's was actually fairly well done. Color, proportions, everything was very accurate, and Ludwig was actually impressed for once. He didn't know Lemmy was _that _artistic.

Only one flaw stood out as bothersome to the musical maestro. There was a giant black and red scribble over the second koopa in the picture. He held the picture up to the light so he could see what the drawing behind the scribble looked like.

The koopa person looked small, and it was holding another koopa's hand- Ludwig realized it was their father. Their mother stood in the far background, almost like she wasn't supposed to be there at all.

"Lemmy... is this you?"

It seemed Lemmy had a lot to vent, and vent he did. The red and black colors he used was really heavy; Ludwig could feel the material of what appeared to be crayon, and he shuddered slightly at the thought of Lemmy being so... morbid. But who could blame the kid; he was nothing but the family scapegoat for a while.

But where was he?

Ludwig left the room and decided to deal with looking for Lemmy in the morning. Instead, he felt like trying his hand at tennis once more; with all the yelling that was going on, it seemed Iggy had lost, and clearly his siblings weren't too pleased about it.

"Alright. Time to teach that little brat a lesson in sports."

* * *

A few more days passed, and things in the Koopa Royal household seemed to be, more or less, fairly normal. Chaos within chaos was about, but nothing unusual was occurring.

It was a bright afternoon when Iggy decided he wanted to conduct a random experiment. To do that, he needed another living specimen, so it was off to the castle's gardens to see if he could find some.

By this point, it seemed as though everyone, including Bowser himself, forgot about Lemmy. Iggy didn't think anything as he walked a familiar pathway to catch a few Goombas. They were easy to find and collect, so he didn't think he would be outside long.

About an hour or so into his hunt, Iggy stumbled into some grass. His grin grew even wider, his scepter at the ready.

"Okay... come to Iggy..." he muttered as he looked into the grass, knowing full well he could easily catch a fair amount of Goombas in this area.

He stumbled and walked and even fell, but to his surprise, not one Goomba seemed to be in existence. Iggy's eyebrows arched in confusion, and he slipped his scepter into a small bag he was carrying.

"Alllllllllllllllllllllllrighty... this is weird. I thought Luddy said there was an 'ample amount of specimens for me to experiment on'" Iggy imitated his older brother. Then he shook his head.

"But there isn't anything here other than... grass! And I've see enough of this stuff!" Iggy yelled, annoyed. He scratched his crazy green hair, looking around.

After a few minutes of that, he picked a random direction and started to walk. He would've kept walking, too...

Except he stepped on something sticky and very wet. Iggy quickly recoiled his foot, looking at it with disgust.

"EWWWWWW! Was that a Goomba?! Was it dead?! Ewwww, what was that!?" he exclaimed in a rush, looking at his foot. He hopped around like a lost rabbit trying to find his way home.

"Oh jeez, that was just plain-"

And then he fell silent.

He had stepped in blood, that was certain. But something not too far from him caught his attention. Something that looked like it was missing a lot of blood.

But he didn't want to believe that the person who was bleeding was someone he knew, or even recognized... maybe it was just a pack of dead Goombas... right?

Ignoring the uncomfortable sensation on his foot, Iggy inched closer to what looked like a pretty dead koopa troopa. _'Okay, so it's not a Goomba pack, but, really? A Koopa Troopa? Out here?'_

It was covered head to toe in blood, and was perfectly still. It looked like it had been mauled, or at least, used like a Chain Chomp's chew toy. _'But... I know I kept Chompaline locked up in her cage...and she knows better...'_

"Please tell me... that's one of the guards..." Iggy muttered to himself, his heart suddenly picking up massive speed.

And once Iggy reached the dead creature, he used a stick to push it over.

And then Iggy screamed.

Iggy stumbled upon the body of his older brother, Lemmy Koopa. But he wasn't sure if Lemmy was actually...dead.

So he just kept screaming, trying to calm himself down and hopefully attract some attention. And soon.

Because Iggy felt a great urge to throw up at the nasty sight of his older brother.

_'L-Lem... h-h-h-ow... what... oh god, someone please hear me... this is too disgusting!'_

* * *

**And chapter complete... finally! **

**Not much to say here; only thing I hate about it is that it felt too rushed, but that might be just me. Let me know what you think in a review or a PM. Thank you all for reading, and don't worry- it will start to pick up soon! **

**Until next chapter! **


	4. Barely Alive

**Hello once again! I have returned with another chapter from Lemmy's POV! **

**And I finished two for the price of one! A rare case, so enjoy it while it lasts! **

**He's still pretty much in his limbo state, hence this chapter being really, really short. Read the Author's Note for more info below. **

**Anyways, please enjoy, and a review or two will always be appreciated! **

**I own nothing more than my plots and my plushie! :) **

* * *

**Threshold**

**Chapter 4- Barely Alive**

_...my head hurts... actually, all of me hurts, but not a lot... just enough to let me know I'm still alive, I guess. _

_I don't understand what that voice wants me to do. I put myself here for a REASON, you know, so I can die? But apparently voices inside your head are very hardheaded people- they never listen._

_I faintly, and I mean VERY faintly, hear something... I dunno what it is, I honestly don't even care. _

_Something I realized was that I should've been dead in any case. I'm pretty sure I've been here long enough to bleed out, and no one came looking for me. So... how am I still alive? Is that voice doing something to me? _

_Or is there something about us Koopalings that keep us alive even when we shouldn't be? I mean, Roy is the strongest of all of us physically, and I've seen him come home so beaten I wonder how he lives. Although I think that's just pure will. And the fact he's too stubborn to go down and stay that way. _

_This pain is really bothering me... I think I'll drift off for a little while..._

_After all, no one found me before. What's going to make them find me now? I'm tired. I mean, I'm beyond exhausted. My whole... being... just wants to find the darkest darkness and stay there._

_That... ringing thing... it's starting to get louder, and I feel the ground moving... ugh, I feel sick... I don't like this at all. _

_If this is Death, I kinda want it to move along. _

_I'm ready...at least, I think so._

* * *

**And believe it or not, this chapter is finished! Wha-? Well, let me explain.**

**I wanted to keep these few chapters with Lemmy kinda brief. The reason being he's too weak to really understand what's happening around him; he's barely even really alive. So I wanted to give some kind of impression that he's just barely grasping onto what's happening around him. This will continue until Lemmy actually heals and begins to get physically stronger. **

**Hopefully this all makes sense; PM me if you have any questions, or leave it in a review! Either or, I do appreciate it. Until the next chapter, Sayoonara! :) **


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